[Trends in frequency of consumption of beans assessed by means of a telephone survey in Brazilian state capitals between 2006 and 2009].

The scope of this paper was to analyze the trends of frequency of consumption of beans between the years 2006 and 2009 in the Brazilian capitals. This is a historical series using the Vigitel database for all Brazilian state capitals. Consumption of beans was described in terms of relative frequency and the trend was assessed using Poisson regression. Between 65.79% (2009) and 71.85% (2006) of participants reported consuming beans five or more days per week. The capitals Goiania, Belo Horizonte, Palmas, Brasilia and Cuiaba were in the highest frequency range of consumption throughout the study period. Individuals with a BMI in the appropriate and low weight category had the highest frequencies of consumption in comparison with the overweight and the obese. A significant reduction trend in the consumption of beans per year of the research, except for the 45 to 54-year-old range, was detected. The conclusion drawn was that there has been a significant reduction in the consumption of beans in the Brazilian population and the adoption of monitoring and incentive policies is necessary due to the benefits of the legume.